Since the Obama administration’s official position is that “a coup is a coup” no matter who gets ousted, I’m assuming that this will be the last straw in The One’s quest for engagement: The top leaders of Iran’s elite……

But only if those enemies dare to “meddle” by condemning the regime’s brutal crackdown! It’s almost as if he took several of Obama’s “we should appease Iran” speeches, pulled out the sentences, rearranged them, and announced “why yes, you……

Both Rices are PhDs, both are people of color. But you conclude that one Rice’s PhD reflects no accomplishment and the other’s does. Or am I misunderstanding you?

ProfessorMiao on July 1, 2009 at 7:20 PM

No, you are not misunderstanding me. The first Rice has proven to me her bona-fides, both at the Rand Corporation and again at Stanford. The second Rice has proven nothing (at least not to me). It’s a total apples and oranges situation.

I’ve seen individuals “mentored” into getting their dissertations approved — up to and possibly including a substantial amount of ghost writing, followed by “softball” questions at the defense (I’ve been hit by a softball thrown by an NCAA player — hence the quotes).

My statement could not be balder than this — there are two classes of PhD’s, one class of which has earned the degree via their own hard work, and another class which has not earned the degree, but has been awarded it anyway. “Embracing Diversity” is one institutional way this happens, while another (both institutional and non-institutional) is having very wealthy parents, and a third (non-institutional) is having a close personal relationship with your advisor.

I’ve seen all three in my day.

I know wherewith I speak, too, Unc. Did someone else write your dissertation for you?

ProfessorMiao on July 1, 2009 at 7:16 PM

I wouldn’t go musing that about (that someone else wrote your dissertation) if I were you.

Barack, Mahmoud, Hugo and Manuel – The Four Birds of a Feather Amigos!

MB4 on July 1, 2009 at 4:25 PM

The four horsement –er, jackasses– of the Apocolypse?

ProfessorMiao on July 1, 2009 at 7:38 PM

Condi Rice was a much better National Security Adviser then Secretary of State. I think it’s hard to deal with our enemies and the career employees at State that think the U.S. sucks.

I have no respect for either of them, intellectually or any other way – though Condi seemed a little bit smarter than this Rice.

progressoverpeace on July 1, 2009 at 7:31 PM

Condi was definitely better at diplospeak. But she did some things that I thought were really stupid – like forcing Hamas as an electoral party on Israel, and cramming UNSCR1307 (no.?) down Israel’s throat. Of course, in the latter case Livni was stupid enough to accept it.

But I don’t think I know enough about either of the Rice’s to judge their intelligence, particularly the newer Rice who I haven’t seen much of yet. Maybe I haven’t been looking in the right places.

You are absolutely correct. I didn’t want to launch into my whole rant against many of the experimentalists … :)

Those who actually devise the experiments tend to be quite impressive, but the many doctoral students who do nothing but run them … oh boy.

progressoverpeace on July 1, 2009 at 7:24 PM

It sounds like we could have fun with this. I’d put PhDs in business/managerial science in the same category as doctorates in education.

ProfessorMiao on July 1, 2009 at 7:20 PM

I have no respect for either of them, intellectually or any other way – though Condi seemed a little bit smarter than this Rice.

Yeah, and I’ve read some of the stuff that passes for Mechanical Engineering, too. If you can do the experiments your doctoral supervisor tells you to do and interpret the results according to the accepted standards, it’s good enough.

ProfessorMiao on July 1, 2009 at 7:15 PM

You are absolutely correct. I didn’t want to launch into my whole rant against many of the experimentalists … :)

Those who actually devise the experiments tend to be quite impressive, but the many doctoral students who do nothing but run them … oh boy.

There’s nothing in the above CV that indicates accomplishment given the one trump card Rice holds — the free ride liberal academia gives to people of color. Is she proving herself anywhere near as capable, stripped of that crutch, as the previous Rice? I don’t thiiink sooo…

unclesmrgol on July 1, 2009 at 7:14 PM

Both Rices are PhDs, both are people of color. But you conclude that one Rice’s PhD reflects no accomplishment and the other’s does. Or am I misunderstanding you?

No IQ required at all — just an ability to endure indentured servitude for two years or so, and to do so with a silent smile. Oh, I forgot — and a good master — excuse me, advisor. I know wherewith I speak.

unclesmrgol on July 1, 2009 at 7:03 PM

I know wherewith I speak, too, Unc. Did someone else write your dissertation for you?

Have you read some of the stuff that passes in sociology? There are certainly some sub-90 IQs, with Ph.D.’s and tenure, in that field.

Yeah, and I’ve read some of the stuff that passes for Mechanical Engineering, too. If you can do the experiments your doctoral supervisor tells you to do and interpret the results according to the accepted standards, it’s good enough.

You can look into the Sokal Affair to see how bad things are the subjective disciplines.

I’ll take a look.

In International Relations, I would guess that there are probably a few sub-90’s, but I’ve never read any of their academic work. All I do know is that everyone I’ve ever met who was in that sort of field was fairly stupid.

I know a number of people in International Relations and while I don’t agree with much they say, I don’t consider any of them to be unintelligent. They often make what I think are unrealistic assumptions about human nature and/or about the motives of those whose political ideologies they do not share (and sometimes those are the samething), and sometimes they ignore evidence that doesn’t fit the conclusions they seem to be predisposed to. But poor methodology and analysis isn’t the result of stupidity in their cases.

I highly doubt that The Precedent breaks 100, himself. I fgure that his SAT score probably ran somewhere around 1000 (480 Math, 520 Verbal). That’s my guess from listening to him.

progressoverpeace on July 1, 2009 at 6:50 PM

I don’t think he’s a genius, but he does have some skills that make him very powerful (in terms of his ability to get people to go along with him).

Stanford University, B.A. in History, 1986.
Graduate:
Rhodes Scholar, New College, Oxford University, M.Phil., 1988
Oxford University, D.Phil. (Ph.D) in International Relations, 1990

Your hypothesis fails. She’s an ideologue. That doesn’t make her stupid.

ProfessorMiao on July 1, 2009 at 5:15 PM

There’s nothing in the above CV that indicates accomplishment given the one trump card Rice holds — the free ride liberal academia gives to people of color. Is she proving herself anywhere near as capable, stripped of that crutch, as the previous Rice? I don’t thiiink sooo…

But you aren’t seriously suggesting that it doesn’t require at least an IQ of 90 to get a PhD, are you?

ProfessorMiao on July 1, 2009 at 6:37 PM

No IQ required at all — just an ability to endure indentured servitude for two years or so, and to do so with a silent smile. Oh, I forgot — and a good master — excuse me, advisor. I know wherewith I speak.

Ah, I don’t consider doctorates in education to be real doctoral degrees.

I love ya!

But you aren’t seriously suggesting that it doesn’t require at least an IQ of 90 to get a PhD, are you?

ProfessorMiao on July 1, 2009 at 6:37 PM

Have you read some of the stuff that passes in sociology? There are certainly some sub-90 IQs, with Ph.D.’s and tenure, in that field.

You can look into the Sokal Affair to see how bad things are the subjective disciplines.

In International Relations, I would guess that there are probably a few sub-90’s, but I’ve never read any of their academic work. All I do know is that everyone I’ve ever met who was in that sort of field was fairly stupid.

I highly doubt that The Precedent breaks 100, himself. I fgure that his SAT score probably ran somewhere around 1000 (480 Math, 520 Verbal). That’s my guess from listening to him.

Hear yourself, NOW!, with unlimited talk!

Every time the Obama administration contradicts itself in a statement, the HA headline should be “One Voice:…”

I have to strongly disagree on this, based on my experiences in academia. In fact, just about every Ph.D. in Education is below-average. Take a gander at the entry GRE’s for that field. It will curl your toes. They score lower on math than the English grads. Really.

Ah, I don’t consider doctorates in education to be real doctoral degrees. But you aren’t seriously suggesting that it doesn’t require at least an IQ of 90 to get a PhD, are you?

I’m also basing what I say on my experience in academia.

A lot of really stupid ideas have come from people who are not lacking in intelligence. It often happens because they are blinded by their preconceptions (ideologies) and incapable of recognizing their own biases.

ProfessorMiao on July 1, 2009 at 6:04 PM

I would rephrase this – intelligent people can have emotional handicaps that skew their thinking. A great example would be the Sec of Energy. He’s obviously extremely intelligent, but he has such emotional problems that his thinking on green energy is crazy and stupid. I don’t know if he just wants to be accepted by “the cool kids” or if he has some other pathology, but it is not his raw intelligence that is lacking.

With Rice, she just seems pretty stupid, to me.

progressoverpeace on July 1, 2009 at 6:16 PM

OK, but I think that an awful lot of liberal ideology is based on emotion. Like white or ‘colonial’ guilt, loopy ideas that everybody would be nice if we weren’t so mean to them, yadda yadda yadda.

your GOVERNMENT is taking these actions–or not taking action–and I shouldn’t need to remind anyone that government is not country. This particular government is not America.

Janos Hunyadi, Touché !

elduende on July 1, 2009 at 5:33 PM

Little publicized fact. Thanks.

So according to Susan Rice, Obama Doctrine is sung in unison. But will One Voice intonate or remain monotone? Those with ears to hear, let them hear. This will be another occasion when the tone deaf will demand that they didn’t hear any inflection (pretense of the tree that fell and no one was there…blah, blah), so those who can and do hear a spectrum must be fabricating evidence.